Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Synopsis:  John and Jane Smith are a normal married couple who've recently begun having marital problems. Their life have become too routine and they are drifting apart. What each of them have failed to discover however, is that the other is living a secret life as a super spy.  Working for competing agencies they travel the globe, perform assassinations and then return home for dinner at seven. But when they are sent to assassinate the same man and discover the secret a new spark is lit... and then blown sky high as the two go head-to-head to eliminate each other.

Review: Mr. & Mrs. Smith stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as the titular couple and is an action-comedy made as only Hollywood can do. Filled with banter, gunfights, car chases, sexy actors and of course huge explosions. It's a joy ride from beginning to end and should never be taken seriously.

The stars are at the top of their game here. Jolie is sexier and tougher than ever and Pitt brings his own toughness as well as most of the films humor. Together they are the coolest super spy couple to grace the silver screen. They might not convince entirely as an old married couple growing tired of each other, but they really sell the passion that returns later (which probably didn't require much acting...). They do great in the action scenes as well as the quieter and more sensitive moments. Together they make the movie and I have real trouble trying to imagine this movie with anyone else playing their parts. In addition to the two main parts, Vince Vaughn shows up as Eddie, John's friend and colleague. It seems to me that he's there for comedy relief, but it never really works. He does an okay job with the role and has a few genuinely funny moments, but most of the time he's just there.

The movie was directed by Doug Liman who did The Bourne Identity, another great action movie, and it looks great. The Blu-Ray  version looks particularly great with the color schemes and beautiful scenery. The sound too is fantastic and utilizes a surround system to full effect.

I have to complain a little about the movie, though. I think it could be much improved by being a bit shorter. I they shaved off around ten minutes the plot could've been a bit tighter and some of the scenes would feel a little less stretched out. There were also some issues with the sub-plot revolving around the character of Benjamin Danz. It seems the writer is setting up a twist, but at the same time pretty much telling the audience far in advance what's going to happen. That took some suspense out of a sequence towards the end.

The main reason for seeing Mr. & Mrs. Smith however is the action and that definitely doesn't disappoint. And it's not just action for the sake of action either, most of it works well into the story and progress the film. The main exception being the final shootout which, however fantastic it looks, feels a bit like a chore to tie up the last dangling plot thread. It doesn't really accomplish that either, but it doesn't matter in the end because the movies focus was on the main characters. And hopefully they can wrap up the rest properly in a sequel...

Summary:  Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a funny, sexy and very entertaining movie. It might be a bit too long and have some plot issues, but overall is one of the best action movies I've seen from Hollywood in the last few years.

8 / 10

Tropic Thunder

Synopsis: Four Hollywood actors gets dropped into the Vietnamese jungle by their director in an attempt to increase the realism of the war movie they're making. With cameras hidden in the forest and special effects placed on strategic places they start to work their way through the scenes. Then everything goes wrong. Without knowing the actors end up outside the prepared area and somehow gets a bloodthirsty drug lord’s army on their tail...


Review: Don't take that synopsis seriously for one second. It sounds really weird and that's exactly what Tropic Thunder is. This is a full-on over-the-top action comedy designed to entertain, which it definitely achieves. From the beginning's huge war scene and all the way to the credits role it's a non-stop joyride. The jokes are funny and the action is done extremely well. In fact if it weren't for the ridiculous set-up and characters of this movie they could've easily worked in a "real" action movie. Put those things together, stir it around and add a great cast and you've got how an action comedy really should be done.


The main character in the film is Ben Stiller's action-hero archetype Tugg Speedman, loosely based on Tom Cruise. Stiller does a good job with the role, but I'll praise him more for the writing and directing of the film because Robert Downey Jr. steals the show acting wise. He plays Kirk Lazarus, a white blonde Oscar winning Australian actor, who's gotten plastic surgery to transform himself into a black man for the part. The part in the fake movie, that is. He's doing some weird stereotypic amalgam of black action movie characters like Carl Weathers in Predator and he doesn't drop character. Not even when the obviously real bullets start flying around his head. It's just a really great and hilarious performance. He really disappears into the character(s).

Another surprise for me in this movie was none other than Tom Cruise. He shows up as the fake movie's executive producer and is responsible for the biggest laugh out loud moment in the film. The rest of the cast sort of ends up in the shadows a bit though, but play their parts well. Especially Jack Black, who usually comes off as a little annoying to me. The part as an addicted actor stranded in the jungle without any more drugs makes his usual antics more fitting.


Overall the movie is pretty solid. The cast works really well together and the movie is very well shot. It looks and feels like a real war movie and at the same time manages to fully capture the over-the-topness of 80's action flicks. Then everything is pushed just that little step further to expose the absurdity and comedy of it all. The special effects, mostly huge explosions of course, looks great too and really help sell the realistic, but over-the-top look. There are some downsides though, like a few short sequences that doesn't work very well. Basically the things that involve "Simple Jack", another character played by Ben Stiller's character in the movie (the real one this time), just aren't funny and kind of break the mood. It stands out as typical weird Stiller humor in a movie that's trying to be, and mostly succeeds at being, much more original.

Summary: Tropic Thunder is a really enjoyable film with cool action, funny jokes and some really good acting. Definitely worth a look if you just want some good old popcorn entertainment.

8 / 10

Hellboy 2 - The Golden Army

Synopsis: A forgotten mythical world comes out of hiding to wage war against humanity. Lead by Prince Nuada, the creatures plan to wake the long slumbering Golden Army, an invincible fighting force that could wipe out every human on the planet. All hope for survival lies in the hands of the secret Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense and a red demon called Hellboy.

Review: I have to start this review by saying that I really loved the first Hellboy. It was a great action adventure mixed with sci-fi and fantasy elements and it had a great cast. It is definitely one of my favorite comic book movies so far. So naturally I was looking forward to Hellboy 2 from the moment I heard it was in production. In other words, this review is a bit slanted so you who didn't like the first one should probably stay away from this one.


Hellboy 2 is a little different than the first because it focuses much more on fantasy elements. The team explores hidden mythical places of the world and meets creatures of all shapes and sizes. The visuals effects in these places are top notch and really make the mythical world come alive. The new world is also a makes for a contrast to the first movie in which Hellboy, Abe, Liz and a few bad guys were the only different ones. This aspect is explored further as Hellboy is torn when it comes to which world he really belongs in. This is even further complicated by his turbulent relationship with Liz Sherman.

It's fun to explore this new world with the team, but with it also comes the new villain Prince Nuada and the problem of this movie. He just isn't very interesting or threatening. I knew it would be hard to top the Nazi’s and Rasputin from the first one, but I was really hoping that Director Guillermo Del Toro could do it. It starts out well, with a fable read by Professor Bruttenholm to a young (and a little weird looking) Hellboy establishing the back story and the first few appearances of the Prince, but then it loses its momentum. Consequently much of the suspense in the film vanishes and the action scenes lose their excitement.


The BPRD and character parts, however, keeps going strong. John Myers, who worked as the introductionary character in the first film, is gone, but he wouldn't have fit into this new story anyway so it's not a big loss. Using him to continue the love triangle drama would've been to cliché and it would've stopped them from moving the Hellboy and Liz relationship forward. They are now a couple, but still have their share of arguments and fights as Hellboy's "big kid" antics gets on Liz's nerves. It soon becomes apparent though that Liz has a secret that threatens to change their lives forever.

Abe Sapien's life gets a change too as he falls in love with Prince Nuada's sister, Nuala. It feels a bit forced, but lets us see a more personal side to Abe which is fun. There's a particularly great and funny moment in the film involving Abe, Hellboy, lots of beer and love songs that makes it all worthwhile. Another source of humor in the film is the new character of Johann Krauss. He's brought into the BPRD to take over for the stressed out Tom Manning and get some control over Hellboy. His "smoke in an old diver suit" like appearance coupled with the German accented voice just made me love him as soon as he showed up. He brought a lot of sorely needed fresh air (pardon the pun) to the film.


The first movie was really well cast. Ron Perlman was born to play Hellboy and Selma Blair was really good at letting us feel for Liz. Even though there's much less for her to do this time around she still does a good job. Abe Sapien was voiced by David Hyde-Pierce in the first one, but actor Doug Jones takes on the full role this time. Unless you've just seen the first you probably won't notice the change, but I still would've liked to have Hyde-Pierce back as I felt he brought a little something extra to Abe. As for the other returnees, John Hurt does a great little cameo as the Professor in the beginning, but Jeffrey Tambor's Tom Manning character is reduced to just comedic relief which is much less needed this time around. He still does a good job though.

The new guys in this is of course Johann Krauss and the Royals. Seth McFarlane does the voice of Krauss perfectly as mentioned and really gives him a personality despite the fact that he's just smoke in the air. Prince Nuada and Princess Nuala however disappoint, but I'm not sure if it's Luke Goss' and Anna Walton's faults or the scriptwriters. Either way their characters become pretty forgettable and a little clichéd.

When it comes to the cast and characters it's impossible to ignore the large amount of make-up, prosthetics and mechanics involved. It is all done fantastically well and manages to come off as different and alien while still being life-like and fully capable of showing detailed performances. I particularly liked all the small things going on around Johann Krauss suit. Steam flows out when he speaks and lots of little mechanical parts twist and move around beautifully.


There are of course also a lot of cgi effects in this. It's not the most realistic all the time, but it flows with the style of the movie and never stands out in a bad way. Overall they managed to get a lot of nice visuals in there for the relatively low budget the movie had.

Summary: Hellboy 2 increases the focus on fantasy and fun and brings lots of action scenes as well. Most of the cast is great, but the villain falls a bit flat. In short it's a good and entertaining film, but it's missing the little extra that made the first one so great.

7 / 10

The Dark Knight

Synopsis: Batman and Gordon are finally making some headway in their war on the gangs in Gotham City. They're also getting some much needed help from the new DA, Harvey Dent, to put them all away for good. Then a wildcard shows up. The gangs are forced to turn to the crazy newcomer known as the Joker to deal with their "bat-problem". That marks the start of a terror reign unlike anyone has ever seen. Without care or mercy and completely without anything resembling a logical plan the Joker puts the city under siege in his hunt to expose and kill the city's big hero.

Review: The Dark Knight is the sequel to Batman Begins, which restarted the Batman movie series after Tim Burton's twisted gothic style tales and Joel Schumacher’s neon camp travesties. Begins was greatly influenced by Frank Miller's Year One comic which (along with his other classic Batman story, Dark Knight Returns) set the Batman standard that is still apparent today. It's a much darker and more realistic approach and one Nolan and Goyer took even further. There were still elements of the outlandish "superhero action" that have become a bit cliché lately, but it took itself much more seriously and was praised for moving into a new/different direction.


In Dark Knight it's all taken even further, to the point of almost transcending the superhero genre. The best way I can think of to describe it is crime epic. The big cast is spread out through several interconnecting storylines that seamlessly weave together to form a big tale about Gotham City itself (and there's even room for a trip to Hong Kong along the way). It's the tale of Gotham City's underground with the mobs and the "freaks" versus the police, lawyers and, not to forget, men dressed as bats that hunt them down. When it's finished after 2 and a half hours you can't help but feel that this movie has done something really special. It's almost like a rollercoaster ride that never ends. It starts with a bang of a bank robbery before it slows down a bit and starts building the suspense towards a bigger, better event and then again and again. Dark Knight works as pure summer entertainment, but if you look a little deeper into it you'll see all the details and stories that really makes it shine. Some critics have called it the Godfather 2 of superhero movies and it's easy to see why.

Batman's fight against the Joker is the centre of the story and, what a fight it is. It's not so much punching and shooting, though there is quite a bit of that too, as much as the interesting clash of ideas and personalities. The Joker is a completely new kind of criminal for Batman too handle. He doesn't operate with any apparent logic and he doesn't have any limits. Batman however has one line that he will not cross, he will not kill. But against the Joker all of his normal methods are suddenly useless. You can't scare a man that is as anarchistic and crazy as him. As the Joker's spree of destruction and murder goes on it starts to wear Batman down and pushes him further and further towards the cliff.

Batman's not alone in his fight, though. He forms an alliance with Lieutenant Gordon who's been put in charge of Gotham PDs SWAT forces and the new DA, Harvey Dent. Gordon's been making headway in his fight too clear the Gotham Police of its corruption, but even with Dent and Batman's help that's not easy to do in a city that's as infested with crime as Gotham. Both he and Dent soon start to feel the pressure as well as the Joker starts his little mind game.


The Joker is played by Heath Ledger and he does a fantastic job. Not only is it a very good portrayal of the crazier modern version of the character, but he manages to disappear completely into the role. Even though he's just gotten some relatively small prosthetic scars and a thin layer of white paint on his face it's pretty much impossible for me to see the actor underneath. Ledger's perfect adaption of the Jokers craziness is filled with small things like how he can't stop tracing his tongue against his scars, flickering eyes and an overall weird body language that is just a joy to behold. In a long film filled with darkness, realism and seriousness he's a bright spot that provides both humor and a whole lot of creepiness.

The rest of the cast is great as well. Christian Bale's Batman starts from a positive outlook as most of the gangs in Gotham are being handled by Gordon and Dent. He's contemplating hanging up his cape and try to lead a normal life with Rachel. As the movie progresses, though, he is just being dragged further and further down into anguish and despair. It's sort of a reverse story arc from Begins and it works very well. Bale really shows how deeply it affects Bruce Wayne. The other returnees Gary Oldman, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman also continue their great performances from the previous film without problem. Oldman gets a bigger role though and he gets to show off much more of Gordon's personal side this time around. Maggie Gyllenhaal takes over the role of Rachel Dawes from Katie Holmes and all round does a better job. Holmes was okay enough as the friend/girlfriend in Begins, but wasn't really convincing as the tough lawyer. That's a side that comes more into play in Dark Knight as the romance bits gets dialed back. There's still some, of course, as Rachel's started dating Gotham's new District Attorney, Harvey Dent.

Dent is played by Aaron Eckhart and he really surprised me with his performance. As most know Dent is a character with a certain duality which can be hard to show, but Eckhart pulls it off very well. The role was bigger than I expected and I really enjoyed his storyline. Even knowing how tragically it will eventually end just made it that much harder to watch as Eckhart really makes you care and feel sorry for Gotham’s "white knight."


Behind the camera the Nolan brothers have full control. Christopher Nolan directing is great as always and he continues the push for realism by keeping the special effects to an absolute minimum. It really makes quite a difference to know that all the stunts and explosions where done for real. The little cgi that is there is done very well. There was one bit in particular that was impressing and just perfectly done, but I'm not going to spoil that. The writing is really great too. I've already mention the weaving of all the storylines into one big picture, but I also have to mention how faithful the writers have been to the comic material. This film tells its own story, of course, but takes a lot of inspiration from Jeph Loeb's fantastic comic called "Batman: The Long Halloween". It's really great to see how the spirit, themes and elements of that book are used in the film. Jonathan Nolan joined his brother on writing duties this time around and I think that really helped. No offence towards David Goyer who collaborated on the plotting, but the amount of outlandish superhero elements have been lowered considerably from Begins which he co-wrote with Chris Nolan. That is except for one thing towards the end which stands out a bit from the establish realism, but it is after all a Batman movie and a summer blockbuster so you've got to have some high tech stuff and mind-blowing action scenes in there. 

The music by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard was really good this time around too and really pushed the suspense in certain moments up a few notches extra.

Summary: In short The Dark Knight is just a fantastic movie that takes both Batman and the entire superhero movie genre to another level. There's great acting all around, especially by Ledger, and a large epic story that both entertains and delves into some of the deeper issues. It might be a little long, but it's worth every second.

10 / 10

Thirteen Days

Synopsis: In 1962 the Soviet Union secretly started building a launch site for nuclear missiles on Cuba, right off the coast of the United States. In the White House President John F. Kennedy has to come up with a plan to stop them. His Generals are calling for air bombing and invasion of Cuba, but Kennedy knows this will inevitably end with a full scale nuclear war. Along with his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, and political advisor, Kenny O’Donnell he has to find a way to prevent that from happening, but time is quickly running out...


Review: Thirteen Days is a very historically accurate portrayal of the two week long "Cuban Missile Crisis". It's shown through the eyes of Kennedy's political advisor Kenny O’Donnell, played by Kevin Costner, and it's a very good political thriller.

I feared the movie might be a little boring as it is relatively long (2,5 hours) and movies based on real events like this often end up with pacing problems. Thankfully none of that happened here. I was hooked immediately by a suspense that just keeps on going throughout the movie. I, of course, knew that there was no chance of anyone dropping "the bomb", but I knew nothing about the details of the events. It was very interesting to see how close to war it got and especially the back and forth between the Kennedy's and the military kept the movie interesting for me.


The acting was a big part of that. Bruce Greenwood and Steven Culp do great jobs as the Kennedy brothers. You really get a sense of how difficult the hard choices they have to make are. They have doubts and are constantly under pressure by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but also show real strength and determination in their handling. Kevin Costner's character, Kenny O’Donnell, is the anchor of the film and the situation really affects him and his family. Costner does a good job showing that as well as showing the difficult political situation he has to handle.


Summary: Thirteen Days is a very good political thriller that keeps you hooked all the way through and gives you some insight into a very important historical event that easily could have turned out very differently.

8 / 10

Torchwood - Season 1 & 2

Synopsis: Torchwood is a spin-off of the recently ressurrected british sci-fi series success Doctor Who. It follows former Time-agent Jack Harkness and his team of alien-hunting and supernatural mystery solvers, which is called Torchwood. They're headquarter is situated in Cardiff in Wales right beside a rift in space-time which causes weird things to happen and also works as a sort of gateway for alien creatures and forces to come through.

Outside the government and beyond the police, Torchwood is the first and last line of defense against all kinds of threats connected to the rift. Jack Harkness is the team leader with a mysterious background who after some adventures with the Doctor suddenly discovered that he can't die. With this new "ability" he fights off all rift threats along with doctor Owen Harper, computer expert Toshiko Santo, organizer Ianto Jones and last, but not least, former police officer Gwen Harper.


Review: Torchwood season 1 was a big disappointment for me. On the outset it had the very interesting and popular character of Capt. Jack Harkness from Doctor Who as the team-leader for the secret organization called Torchwood. Torchwood specializes in hunting down aliens and solving other supernatural mysteries. How can you not make that entertaining?

The biggest reasons for the first seasons failure was that John Barrowman, who was a delight to see as the charming, brave and adventurous Jack Harkness in Doctor Who, was reduced to a brooding, hotheaded and boring character who spent most of his time standing on rooftops scowling over the city. Then they portrayed every other character on the team as despicably as they could. Nobody trusted each other and they spent more time arguing than actually working. The last main reason for my disappointment was the small scope of the show. It's set in Cardiff and even though they got an explanation with the rift it's just not a very exciting place, at least not the way they portray it, even if there are several aliens and monsters running around. Since the setting was a result of the small budget I won't complain too much about it, you have to work with what you got.


Torchwood was supposed to be more adult themed than its parent show Doctor Who but it isn't enough to just make it dark and throw in some "adult" scenes here and there. The stories have to be good and interesting too. There were some episodes, like “Countrycide”, “Cyberwoman” and the season ender, that managed this, but even those included several disappointing elements like weird logic and completely out-of-character moments. The others mainly consisted of plots with small threats that could have been solved easily if the team didn't constantly go around backstabbing and/or sleeping with each other all the time.

The show deserves credit for trying to do its own thing and there are many moments here and there that are interesting, but overall season 1 of Torchwood was much to write home about. It wasted most of the potential it had.

So what about season 2? Well, for once the characters work as a team more often than not and Capt. Jack was used a bit better while the stakes of the plots were upped a bit. Overall I have to say that it was better. The introduction of Capt. John (James Marsters) and further exploration of Capt. Jacks past was interesting and a few appearances of Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) coupled with the twist given to the character of Owen Harper really helped a lot. There's still some weird logic every now and then, but the characters work much better, both alone and as part of the team. The season ender was really good too, although the main villain was a little disappointing. The special effects on Torchwood are used sparingly, but they look good enough and manage to wow you when they want too.


The shows become more consistent, but it still works as a b-movie guilty pleasure kind of show. A good Torchwood episode really doesn’t compare well to episodes of other similar sci-fi shows like the X-Files. My main reason for continuing to watch it is the connection to Doctor Who and my hope that one day Capt. Jack might become as entertaining on Torchwood as he is and was on Doctor Who. It’s not really John Barrowman’s fault, since he does a good job with what he’s given, but a problem that stems from the change of setting.

The rest of the cast do relatively good jobs too. Burn Gorman, in particular, gets to show off a bit in the second season as the Owen Harper character gets a new outlook on life. Gareth David-Lloyd’s Ianto Jones seems like an interesting guy, but apart from a moment here and there he isn’t given the chance to show it. The same can be said for Naoko Mori, who plays Toshiko Sato. They do good jobs, but are mostly hidden away in the background doing very little, especially in the first season. Eve Myles gets enough time and opportunity to show her skills, but more often than not she just comes off as whiney and a little boring. She’s the “audience character”, but I wish they would pull her back a little as some of the other characters seem much more interesting and deserve some more screen time.

Summary: It's hard to avoid the large gap in quality between Torchwood and Doctor Who, when the shows are so closely linked. However Torchwood is trying to do its own thing and seem to be getting better at it after the very rocky start. It's got a very b-movie sci-fi thing going and is entertaining at times, but it still needs quite a bit of work in my eyes.

6 / 10

Venture Bros. - Season 1 & 2

Synopsis: Doctor "Rusty" Venture, formerly the world’s greatest boy-adventurer, but now just a mid-life crisis scientist who can't manage to live up to his father’s legacy. He keeps trying to invent new things and travels the globe with his two sons, Hank and Dean, to find someone who wants to buy them. These travels usually end up with the Venture family being chased by zombies/ghosts/vampires/robots/ninjas and/or crazy supervillains that will do anything it takes to destroy the son of the world's greatest science-hero Jonas Venture.

Therefore the quiet, but extremely deadly Brock Samson has been assigned by the OSI (Office of Secret Intelligence) to protect them. It’s a job that regularly requires him to kill monsters/vampires/zombies etc. and/or the henchmen of crazy supervillains, particularly those of Dr. Venture's archenemy, The Monarch. He's a supervillain with a butterfly suit and a flying cocoon. Along with his partner, Dr. Girlfriend, he's constantly hatching new plans to get his revenge against Dr. Venture (though nobody knows what for...).


Review: The Venture Bros. is a really fun animated series that parodies old adventure series like Johnny Quest as well as classic monster and sci-fi movies with some modern references to superheroes and Star Wars thrown in for good measure. There's probably not many in the core audience that remembers or has even seen the shows that are parodied, but thankfully it doesn't matter. Everything is extremely funny regardless.

The animation is bright and clean like most other Cartoon Network shows, but don't let that fool you. This series is not as family friendly as it might look. Venture Bros. is produced under the Adult Swim banner and geared more towards late-teens, twenty-somethings and older. This gives the creators the freedom to fill the episodes with more mature subjects and have scenes with sex, drug-use, swearing and a whole lot of bloody, bone-breaking violence. It's not as outrageous as it may sound since the swearing gets "beeped" and "naughty bits" are always censored/hidden, but it gives the show an edge and room to go where no show has gone before.

And they definitely don't disappoint. The storylines included in these two seasons are set all over the globe and feature all kinds of adventures. From chasing ghost pirates at sea to repairing the Gargantua 1 space station in high orbit to encountering the Impossible family in their arctic base, there's never a dull moment.


Then there are all the jokes. Venture Bros. is filled with them and even though some go over my head sometimes because of my unfamiliarity with some of the things that gets parodied there's always something else to laugh at. The main sources are of course the great characters that have been created. Dean and Hank's mix of overblown enthusiasm, stupidity and naivety can make anything funny. If you throw in Dr. Venture's sarcasm and unbelievably high self confidence you've got pure gold. There's nothing like a big Venture family argument. Brock is mainly used for physical humor, mostly involving him beating up someone or destroying something in the most ridiculously violent and complicated ways.

Then there are of course all the brilliant side-characters. The Monarch steals the scene every time with his pompous speeches of hatred, but it's his pathetic attempts at super-villainy that makes him so great. Not to mention the roller-coaster relationship he has with Dr. Girlfriend and the encounters with rival supervillains. Baron Underbheit (with a steel jaw) is another big threat to Dr. Venture and with helpers like Dr. Catclops (who has one eye that looks like a cat) and Girl Hitler (pretty self-explanatory that one) and a german accent he's so over-the-top evil that you can't help but smile. Other great and funny characters include the dramatic sorcerer Dr. Orpheus, the arrogant Professor Impossible, russian spy Molotov Cocktease and everybody's favorite robot H.E.L.P.eR.

Common for all these characters is that they're fleshed out really well and you get a connection to them. Nobody has just one side to them and that makes the show much more interesting than if they're where just stereotypic and/or one-note parody characters. There's some depth to them that makes them into really great characters on their own terms. Much of that comes from the great voice acting which brings the characters alive and delivers the jokes perfectly time after time.


The first season of the Venture Bros. is fantastically funny and filled with action, adventure and sci-fi, but it doesn't hold a candle to season 2. Despite excellent episodes like "Tag sale, you're it", where Dr. Venture holds a yard sale where every existing supervillain shows up to grab some new weapons and gadgets, and "the Trial of the Monarch" it just can't live up to the brilliance shown in the following season. The creators, Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick, really up the stakes and builds on the shows history to create a truly epic storyline. It ends with one of the greatest season finale two-parters in TV-history featuring an awesome appearance by "a fake celebrity guest star". There's also great episodes like "Twenty Years to Midnight", where a mysterious alien who calls himself the Grand Inquisitor suddenly appears, "Victor.Echo.November", where The Monarch dares Dr. "Ex-"Girlfriend's new boyfriend Phantom Limb to destroy the Venture family once and for all, and "Escape to the House of Mummies, Part II", an episode so crazy and complicated it would be impossible to explain the plot of in a single sentence. Here's however some cues: mummies, time machine, magic, egyptian cults, Caligula and Edgar Allen Poe in a headlock. In short: pure genius, just like the rest of this show.

Summary: Venture Bros. season 1 and 2 are must buy's for anyone who likes comedy with a bit of geeky edge and loves crazy action and adventures. There's supervillains, monsters, ninjas, pirates, zombies, ghosts, aliens, sexy women and two boys with an angry father and a bloodthirsty bodyguard. It's the Venture Bros., one of the best shows on TV. What are you waiting for? Go Team Venture!

10 / 10